Barcelona SAE: Customized Internships

Barcelona SAE placed me with a company that I was unsure about at the beginning, but it turned out to be better than I could've asked for. Throughout the program, I learned so much about excelling at things outside of my comfort zone and I was given the support to succeed thanks to the SAE program. My mentors, the orientation staff, and even other SAE students were very encouraging and pushed me beyond what I believed I was capable of. In my internship, I established valuable connections, learned about international business and European work culture, and gained experience to further my career in Marketing and Communications. I went into this experience with an open-mind and sought out many of the endless opportunities available. If you are wanting to grow both academically and personally, this is the program for you.

Growing up, I received National Geographic kids's magazines monthly via subscription. I vividly remember keeping a collection of them in my closet and spending my days reading about the various locations around the world and the animals that make up these ecosystems. From the luscious prairies of Africa to the jungles of South America, and even Antarctica; the places of the world began to feel wider than the community I was accustomed to. These early memories catalyzed my passion for international travel and sparked my desire to not only explore my city, but the world at large. Coming from Los Angeles, I got to meet individuals from all over the world, hear their stories and perspectives, and increase my desire to see the world. It created a fantasy for me in getting to see the world, and as I grew up, my global perspective began to shift with the times. When the opportunity offered itself to study Intern in Barcelona, I knew I had to jump onto the opportunity, as it would be a culmination of the love story that has been developing over the last decade for me and the world. I knew I owed it to both my younger self, but also my future self to step out of my comfort zone and venture to Espana. For that, I am eternally grateful for the aid and guidance Barcelona SAE provided during my time there. Both the coursework to the nuggets of information and activities that immersed myself and others in the Barcelona way of life. I will never forget my time in Barcelona, and that is due to Barcelona SAE.

If you are looking for an abroad program that not only gives you the opportunity to grow professionally and culturally but also allows you to create experiences that cultivate memories and relationships that last beyond your time abroad, then Barcelona SAE is the perfect program for you. I did the internship program with Barcelona SAE just about a year ago now and I still talk about my experiences every day. I originally was supposed to go to Barcelona to study and do an internship back in the summer of 2020 when I was a sophomore in college, but I was delayed due to COVID. After I graduated college, I was unsure of what I wanted to do, so I decided to reach out and see if I would be allowed to just do the internship abroad since I did not need course credit anymore. Luckily, they allowed me to which led me to an internship in Barcelona with Sustainability Worldwide Center 2050. Barcelona SAE helped me get placed in this internship by getting to understand what my degree was in, what my professional goals were, and what I was good at. At Sustainability Worldwide Center 2050, I worked as a research support intern where I would assist in researching relevant information for important sustainability projects for clients. My internship was the best fit for me; my boss and co-workers were very welcoming to me and allowed me to do work that fostered my skills. I was also able to expand my knowledge about how European countries prioritized sustainability and was able to apply that to political knowledge back home for how we could make improvements. Another thing that I liked about my internship was that all my co-workers that I worked with daily, were the same age as me and they were students at the local university. This allowed me to connect with them as we had many things in common and even allowed me to create friendships with them. Aside from the internship directly, the Barcelona SAE program gave me the amazing opportunity to gain a lot of cultural experiences. While I was in Spain, I lived in the student housing in Poble-sec. Poble-sec is an amazing neighborhood to live in as someone who is abroad because it is filled with a lot of families which allows you to immerse yourself in the culture. When we first got to Barcelona and were all settled in our rooms, we were given a personal tour by Barcelona SAE of the neighborhood so that we could get an understanding of the layout, how the metros worked, and where things were like the grocery store. Living so closely with locals allowed me to not only become a local but also allowed me to better develop my cultural knowledge and Spanish language skills. The program also lets you sign up for many different events that allow you to more fully immerse yourself in the culture in Barcelona. Some of the events included things like a guided tour of the Gothic Quarter, a bus trip to Sitges, winery tours, and much more. These events gave me even more of an opportunity to explore the different aspects of Spanish culture which allowed me to connect even more to Barcelona and the people. One of the most important parts of the Barcelona SAE program for me, looking back now, was the fact that it gave me the chance to create relationships and build bonds with the other people in the program. As I mentioned before, I lived in the student housing in Poble-sec where I was placed on the sixth floor with other people from the program. Unlike all the other floors, the sixth floor had nine rooms and only one communal kitchen; it was the smallest floor of the building as other floors had more rooms and typically two kitchens. All nine rooms on the sixth floor were other people from the program, including myself, who I ended up enjoying living with as we all got along well. We would have sixth-floor dinner nights where we would each cook something up, we would watch the World Cup together in the kitchen, and we would just generally hang out together whenever we weren’t busy doing work or going somewhere. On top of that, I met some of my closest friends in the program just by participating in the events that they would have. On our weekend trip to the Basque Country, coordinated by the program, I ended up meeting and connecting with my close friends as we spent all weekend exploring together. After that trip, we hung out all the time in Barcelona meeting up for dinner, going out for some tapas and drinks, and even just going shopping. These friends I made even ended up being the ones that I traveled to six different countries with on our weekend trips. From traveling all over Europe together, we all became close, and we have stayed in touch ever since our time abroad was over. In fact, we all met up just this past summer in Miami for a small vacation! These relationships I built while living in Barcelona are invaluable to me and they were an essential part of the experience and memories that I have from traveling abroad. Overall, I highly recommend the Barcelona SAE program to anyone who wants to go abroad and gain some important life experiences. I wish I could have been in the program longer, or that I could go back in time so that I can experience it all again. This was an amazing opportunity for me, and I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed it. I am planning a trip back to Barcelona for the summer of 2024 that I am just so excited for because I can’t wait to be back where I was a year ago even if just for a little bit. I can’t thank everyone in the program enough for everything that they did and I hope that more people get the chance to experience this amazing program.